A PANDEMIC SILVER LINING
MY RELATIONSHIP WITH THINK BUSINESS EVENTS
I don’t normally use an entire blog to praise one particular PCO (as I know many worthy of praise), but I truly think there is something important to be learned from my experience with Think Business Events, a PCO that has been responsible for a significant percentage of my work during the pandemic.
Naturally, I am hugely thankful to Denise Broeren and Kim Stevenson for helping me be able to feed my family … but I am ESPECIALLY grateful to them because they have taught me a couple of very important lessons about the event industry.
I think they’re lessons that others would appreciate also, so here they are:
LESSON 1:
MARKETING IS A LOOOOONG GAME
Prior to October last year, I had never worked with Think Business Events.
But, since then, they have been so wonderful to deal with … and given me the right balance of guidance, freedom and trust so that I can deliver to the end client … that we are now heading towards partnering on our fourth event.
Interestingly, they had been on my database for over ten years … and every time I sent them a piece of my marketing, I wondered (like I do with many on my database) whether anyone there ever read what I’d written.
But I persisted because … well … I figured, if they hadn’t asked to unsubscribe, there was always a small chance something might eventuate.
So, when they emailed seemingly out of the blue late last year, it was not only a delightful surprise, but it importantly renewed my faith in the marketing process.
And in being patient!
I don’t want EVERY new relationship to take over a decade to form … but sometimes they do. And when that happens, it is always worth the wait.
LESSON 2:
THE SPEAKERS AND DELEGATES AT MEDICAL CONFERENCES DO APPRECIATE HAVING AN MC AT THEIR EVENTS
I’ve been a corporate MC for over 25 years which means two things:
I’m much older than I’m comfortable admitting, and
I’ve done lots of events for lots of clients in lots of industries.
Except one.
In all this time I have only worked at two medical association events.
And one of them wasn’t even to act as an MC. It was to design and run a Trivia Quiz for the Urological Society of Australia at a conference dinner.
The other was to MC a conference of Dental Surgeons … an event in which, despite warnings from the Organisers about how boring dental audiences are, I had the delegates laughing and cheering and even one of the international professors who was speaking arrived on stage singing and dancing to the music I had organised to play as their sting.
The photo to the right is me thanking him after his SECOND conference presentation, the next day, in which he was so inspired by the previous day’s reception, he decided to lead us all in a rendition of ‘Waltzing Matilda’ at the end of his presentation!
The message I’ve repeatedly heard over the years from PCOs whose client base is largely medical associations was some combination of the following sentiments:
REASONS PCO’S GIVE FOR NOT CONSIDERING AN MC FOR THEIR MEDICAL ASSOCIATION CLIENTS
Our clients have never used an MC before
Our clients are not interested in using an MC in the future
The format of the event means there’s really no need.
The event is chaired by either the Association President or someone from the organising committee … so they don’t see the need for an MC
The program is all very technical. An MC wouldn’t be able to add any value
(And, most gratingly of all) Our delegates really aren’t the sort of people who would respond well to an MC.
I would listen respectfully as I was told this … and silently think to myself, “But I’ve only MC’d one medical conference … and already I saw that almost all those things aren’t true”.
I have spent decades wondering why many people feel that the only enjoyment delegates in some industries (like medicine, accounting and engineering) are allowed at their conference is over a meal.
Given how many more hours they spend in the conference room than they do at their dinners, and how important the information is that they’re wanting to learn whilst they’re in there, surely there should be an emphasis on them enjoying THAT aspect as well?
Then along came the pandemic and Think Business Events realised that, if their clients were going to confidently navigate their first virtual conference experience, the solution could lay in having an MC involved.
Now, I’m not sure what made them turn to ME, specifically. Perhaps it was the fact that, with my middle name beginning with ‘R’, my name came up in their search as DR ISENBERG.
I’m certainly hoping it’s NOT because the client was the Association for Surgeons who specialise in surgery on the morbidly obese.
But, however, it happened, I was delighted to see there was a recognition of some of the value that an MC can deliver at an event.
Anyway, long story short, here’s what I learned (for the second time):
It turns out that delegates at medical conferences are … wait for it … PEOPLE … and people enjoy enjoying themselves.
Even when they’re busy doing serious things like LEARNING.
In fact, ESPECIALLY when they’re doing important things like learning.
I’m really glad I got another opportunity to see whether an MC could have a place at a medical conference.
I’m also glad that Think Business Events were rewarded for their openness to using an MC. The clients whose events we have worked together on must be thankful Think Business Events were able to go ‘outside the box’ to add in something refreshing and effective. That’s got to help make them more loyal clients … more confident in and trusting of TBE’s ideas and suggestion in the future.
And I hope that one or two people reading this are inspired to pluck up the courage and suggest to their clients (be they medical industry or not) what they know is going to be good for the delegates, even if it goes against what the client is suggesting.